German armed forces ban MS software, citing NSA snooping http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/4/17679.html By: John Lettice Posted: 17/03/2001 at 18:59 GMT The German foreign office and Bundeswehr are pulling the plugs on Microsoft software, citing security concerns, according to the German news magazine Der Spiegel. Spiegel claims that German security authorities suspect that the US National Security Agency (NSA) has 'back door' access to Microsoft source code, and can therefore easily read the Federal Republic's deepest secrets. The Bundeswehr will no longer use American software (we surmise this includes Larry and Scott as well) on computers used in sensitive areas. The German foreign office has meanwhile put plans for videoconferencing with its overseas embassies on hold, for similar reasons. Under secretary of state Gunter Pleuger is said by Spiegel to have discovered that "for technical reasons" the satellite service that was to be used was routed via Denver, Colorado. According to a colleague of Pleuger's this meant that the German foreign services "might as well hold our conferences directly in Langley." We're not entirely sure whose interesting video conferencing via satellite service has a vital groundstation in Denver, but we note that Pleuger seems to have gleaned this information from a presentation held earlier this month in Berlin by, er, Deutsche Telekom. Which just happens, along with Siemens, to have picked up the gig. The two companies have supplanted Microsoft (and anything else American) and will be producing a secure, home-grown system that the German military can be confident in. ======================= 17. März 2001 Bundeswehr verbannt Microsoft-Programme http://www.spiegel.de/netzwelt/politik/0,1518,123170,00.html Aus Angst vor US-Geheimdiensten wollen das Auswärtige Amt und die Bundeswehr Sicherheitslücken schließen. Statt amerikanischer Software werden auf den staatlichen Rechnern künftig deutsche Programme arbeiten. In Computern, die in sensiblen Bereichen eingesetzt werden, soll demnach keine Software der Firma Microsoft mehr verwendet werden. Nach Erkenntnissen deutscher Sicherheitsbehörden verfügt der amerikanische Spionagedienst NSA über alle einschlägigen Quellcodes der US-Firma und kann so selbst verschlüsselte Daten lesen. Um Geheimnisse zu schützen, setzt das Verteidigungsministerium daher auf Verschlüsselungstechniken der heimischen Firmen Siemens und Telekom. Das Auswärtige Amt hat unterdessen seinen Plan zurückgestellt, Video-Konferenzen mit seinen Auslandsvertretungen einzuführen. Staatssekretär Gunter Pleuger erfuhr bei einer Telekom-Präsentation in Berlin Anfang März, dass sämtliche Satelliten-Übertragungswege aus technischen Gründen über die amerikanische Stadt Denver im Bundesstaat Colorado laufen. Pleuger war der Umweg über die USA zu unsicher. "Dann können wir unsere Konferenzen ja gleich in Langley abhalten", spöttelte ein Pleuger-Mitarbeiter. In Langley (Virginia) residiert der amerikanische Geheimdienst CIA. © SPIEGEL ONLINE 2001 Alle Rechte vorbehalten Vervielfältigung nur mit Genehmigung der SPIEGELnet AG ============================================== SPY NEWS is OSINT newsletter and discussion list associated to Mario's Cyberspace Station http://mprofaca.cro.net/mainmenu.html ============================================== *** NOTICE: In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, this material is distributed without profit to SPYNEWS eGroup members who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for non-profit research and educational purposes only. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor ---------------------~-~> <FONT COLOR="#000099">Make good on the promise you made at graduation to keep in touch. Classmates.com has over 14 million registered high school alumni--chances are you'll find your friends! </FONT><A HREF="http://us.click.yahoo.com/l3joGB/DMUCAA/4ihDAA/xrOVlB/TM"><B>Click Here!</B></A> ---------------------------------------------------------------------_-> Please let us stay on topic and be civil. To unsubscribe please go to http://groups.yahoo.com/group/cia-drugs -Home Page- www.cia-drugs.org OM Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
